ONLINE EXHIBITION | WORLD NATIVITIES 2020

24. Bryn Athyn Nativity

Setting by Navidad Nativities
Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Wood, stone, and other natural materials
Figures in wood and fabric by Original Heide, Val Gardena, Italy
2015 

Bryn Athyn Nativity honors the architectural legacy of Raymond Pitcairn, who supervised the design and construction of both Bryn Athyn Cathedral and Glencairn, and also his particular love for the story of the Nativity and the celebration of Christmas.  

Michael Joseph Stumpf and A.J. DiAntonio of Navidad Nativities created the architectural setting in wood, stone and other natural materials in their Bucks County, Pennsylvania atelier. The Renaissance-style Nativity figures belong to the Immanuel Collection, made by Original Heide, a family workshop in the Italian Alps in the Val Gardena valley. All of the figures were hand carved in wood. The drapery of the clothing was stiffened and painted with acrylic paints.  

Michael Stumpf and his wife Shurley visited Glencairn for the first time in 2014 to see the World Nativities exhibition. Stumpf and DiAntonio then toured Glencairn and Bryn Athyn Cathedral with Glencairn’s director and curator in the spring of 2015. The Navidad artists became interested in the story of how Pitcairn oversaw the design and construction of Bryn Athyn’s medieval-style cathedral, dedicated in 1919, and his Glencairn home, built in the Romanesque style between 1928 and 1939. Pitcairn’s artistic vision and attention to detail inspired the Navidad artists to create this tribute in miniature.  

Drawing from their favorite elements in each of the buildings, Navidad Nativities developed a design that represents their own interpretation of the historical and architectural relationship between Bryn Athyn Cathedral and Glencairn. The lavender glow surrounding the Holy Family duplicates the light in the sanctuary of the actual Cathedral, produced when the sun streams through the red and blue glass in the side windows. Glencairn’s Upper Hall is reproduced on the right-hand side of this Nativity. 

More photographs and information, including behind-the-scenes photos of the creation of this Nativity in the Bucks County atelier of Navidad Nativities, are available in A Nativity Inspired by Bryn Athyn Architecture (Glencairn Museum News Number 11, 2015).

To explore Glencairn’s World Nativities exhibition Advent Calendar, click here.